OVPD PATROLLING ANNEXED AREA

The 35-year-old homeless woman stood in the bike lane on Oracle
Road near Magee Road as Officer Doug Hamblin unlocked the handcuffs
from behind her back.

The woman had been abandoned by two men in a car after allegedly
attempting to unload $86 worth of beer she had stolen from the
Fry's Food and Drug Store at 7951 N. Oracle Road into the car.
Frightened by an employee who had followed the woman out of the
store, the two men sped away. The homeless woman was arrested a few
moments later and cited for shoplifting.

As the handcuffs were coming off, Officer Bruce Thomas had these
words of advice after citing and releasing the woman: "We've taken
over the area, so tell your friends if they come back, we'll be
here."

The area Oro Valley police officers have taken over is the newly
annexed 630 acres in a predominantly commercial area south of the
town's northern boundaries and bounded by Northern Avenue on the
west, First Avenue on the east and Suffolk Drive on the south.

The homeless woman's arrest was one of numerous law enforcement
actions taken by police on the second day of a monthlong campaign
being waged as police familiarize themselves with business owners
and apartment complex managers. The actions are being made possible
by the town's hiring of six new officers earlier this year in
anticipation of the annexation.

"It's part of Chief Danny Sharp's philosophy of high visibility
as a means of prevention," said Becky Mendez, the department's
public information spokeswoman.

In the rest of Oro Valley it will be business as usual, but to
motorists coming and going from Catalina and Oracle into and out of
Tucson it may seem a whole different matter.

In the past, from Ina Road on Oracle to the Oro Valley town
limits has been a racetrack with drivers suddenly slowing down once
they reach the town's limits because of its reputation as a speed
trap, Thomas said. "Our reputation precedes us," he said.

It is a reputation the town doesn't discourage.

"The truth is we actually don't mind that reputation because we
believe that high visibility is a deterrent for traffic violations
and promotes safe driving," Mendez said.

"If drivers slow down and pay more attention to the traffic laws
when they enter Oro Valley, we don't see that as a negative. If our
streets are safer for the people who live in Oro Valley, the
consumers who are supporting our commercial developments, our
student population and those who are traveling through town, we see
that as a positive," said Mendez.

With the department's newly extended territory of enforcement,
warnings are being stressed in a break-in period.

"You've got to tell them what the rules of the game are first
before you really get serious," said Thomas. So warnings to
motorists will predominate for awhile except for more egregious
offenses, he said.

The enforcement campaign is a widespread effort.

Two days before the annexation became effective on May 7, police
distributed materials to about a dozen residents of a homeless camp
on Northern Avenue behind Fry's food store, warning them to leave
or face eviction when police came back. The next day they were
gone, raising hopes that the assortment of thefts and littering
that had plagued customers for so long had ended at least for
awhile.

At the Saddle Ridge Apartments, 450 W, Cool Drive, Thomas was
responding to a 911 call that before the annexation would have been
handled by the Pima County Sheriff's Department when two bikers
zipped by over speed bumps as he entered the apartment complex.

"Enjoy the day," Thomas said aloud but with the windows of his
vehicle still raised. "We'll be talking to you soon."

Bicycle officers Hamblin and Dan Krueger had answered the 911
call just minutes before Thomas arrived and discovered a resident
had dialed the number by mistake.

The brief lull gave the bicycle officers a chance to recount a
drug bust the day before in the same complex that ended up with the
arrest of a man residents had been complaining about for months in
connection with the sale of marijuana out of his apartment.

Up and down Oracle it's been a love fest between business
owners, residents and police. Shopping centers have been saturated
with police volunteers and foot patrols checking up on concerns
ranging from road improvements to measures they can take to better
protect their businesses.

"The more the better," said an assistant manager at the Fry's
where the alleged beer shoplifting took place. "It would have taken
the county an hour or two to respond and the Oro Valley police were
here in less than five minutes," he said, asking that his name not
be used. "It's nothing against the Sheriff's Department. It's just
that they're spread so thin.

"We've also had some pretty aggressive panhandlers and that
problem seems to have been taken care of as well. We really
appreciate that because many of our customers are seniors and it
doesn't take much to upset them."

The only negative, the official said, was that with the
annexation, customers will be paying an additional 2 percent town
sales tax.

Mark Campbell, manager of the Bank One branch at 7952 N. Oracle,
said the bank signed petitions in favor of annexation because of
the perception there would be faster response times and that's
holding true. "For a while now we've been in no man's land,"
Campbell said. "I'm not complaining about the Sheriff's Department.
They've been good, but the fact is citizens should feel more
comfortable when police are around the bank."

During the annexation drive as petitions were being circulated,
perhaps 25 percent of residents were adamantly opposed to becoming
part of Oro Valley and 25 percent were strongly in favor, while 50
percent were waiting for more information on what the annexation
would mean to them in terms of services, said Thomas.

"I was talking to the business owners and finding out about
their issues that really turned things around in favor," Thomas
said.

"One lady business owner was so happy to see an officer
patrolling her shopping center that the officer thought she was
going to kiss him," Thomas said.

Businesses also have been provided forms on which to list
emergency numbers and other information that will be kept in the
Police Department's communications center. Individual businesses
also are being contacted to let them know the types of services the
department can provide and patrols are hitting school zones when
classes break, Mendez said.

"The chief has instructed all officers to observe special areas
of concern where there might be suspicious activity or areas where
there might be an engineering traffic problem to make a note of
these areas and report to their supervisors so that the information
can be sent up through the proper channels," she said. Of the
nearly 120 businesses in the area, about 75 percent have been
contacted thus far, she said.

"We're leaning toward more familiarization, getting to know
people and conducting an education as to what our philosophy is in
enforcement," Mendez said. "And of course that philosophy is based
on safety for all."